Must Read

• Matt Taibbi, America Is Too Dumb for TV News
• The Onion, This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t [Ed.:  It’s a bad day when The Onion is providing prescient policy analysis rather than satire.]
• Lewis Lapham, Bombast Bursting in Air: The story, so far, of the 2016 election [Ed.: May require a Harper’s subscription]
• Mark Thoma, An Essential Part of Job Creation Policy Is Missing

Should Read/Listen

• John Cassidy, The Pfizer–Allergan Merger Is a Disgrace
• Mark Schmitt, Tax the (upper) middle class, please
• Justin Gillis (NYT), Paris Climate Talks Avoid Scientists’ Idea of ‘Carbon Budget’
• Adele Stan, Donald Trump: Evidence of Our Degeneracy
• Conor Friedersdorf, The Corrupt System That Killed Laquan McDonald
• On Point with Tom Ashbrook, Marilynne Robinson On Hope In A Time Of Fear
• Giles Tremlett, Mondragon: Spain’s giant co-operative where times are hard but few go bust

Geography

• Dardanelles Strait – Map & Description  [Ed.: “I’ll take ‘How’s Russia going get supplies which can’t be effectively transported by air, e.g., fuel, to its military operations in Syria’ for $1000, Alex.” ]

The Geneva Convention

• Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Syria

• Alisha Huber, Trying to follow what is going on in Syria and why? This comic will get you there in 5 minutes.
• Zach Beauchamp, A Russia expert explains how Putin will likely respond to his downed plane
• Uri Friedman, The Real Danger of the Downed Russian Jet: It may not start a new war. But it will make it much harder to stop an old one.
• Tyler Rogoway, Syrians Are Paying A High Price For Russia’s Cheap Bombs
• Noam Chomsky interviewed in Jacobin, Chomsky and His Critics:  Noam Chomsky on ISIS, his foreign policy critics, and why socialist ideas are “never far below the surface.”

Refugees and Immigration

• Lance Mannion, “I was a stranger and you invited me in.” 
• María Cristina García, America has never actually welcomed the world’s huddled masses

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

• Molly Ball, The Ecstasy of Donald Trump: As the public’s fear and loathing surge, the frontrunner’s durable candidacy has taken a dark turn.
• Rare Historical Photos, Laughing at Auschwitz – SS auxiliaries poses at a resort for Auschwitz personnel, 1942
• Monica Davey and Mitch Smith (NYT), Chicago Protests Mostly Peaceful After Video of Police Shooting Is Released  [Ed.: My wife points out to me that the shooting occurred a year ago.  It took them over a year to indict?!]
• Todd Melby and David Bailey, Four Men Held In Connection With Shooting Of Minneapolis Protesters

Politics

• Clare Foran, The Lifelong Republicans Who Love Bernie Sanders
• Down With Tyranny!, Sanders Momentum Stalls in Union Front Offices
• Ted Fertik, Why SEIU Backed Hillary:  SEIU’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton displays the same shortsightedness that has contributed to labor’s decline.
• Mike Konczal, Thoughts on Bernie Sanders’s Democratic Socialism and the Primary
• Nicholas Confessore (NYT), A Wealthy Governor and His Friends Are Remaking Illinois
• Mr. Fish, SymbolCrash

Good Government

• Daniel Van Schooten, Between a Rock and a Hard Place: There are Still No Good Options for Intelligence Community Whistleblowers
• David Hilzenrath, Drug Problems: Nominee to Head FDA Led Clinical Trial FDA Faulted

Economics

• Stan Collender, The 6 Most Ridiculous Things About The 2015 Budget Agreement
• Mark Thoma, commentary on Teresa Tritch’s “What Is Holding Back the Economy?”
• Paul Krugman (NYT), Iceland, Ireland, and Devaluation Denial
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Corporate Profits After Tax

Health and Health Care

• Michael Caron McGuill, Testing Positive: Sobering Truths About Living With HIV
• Abby Goodnough (NYT), Kentucky, Beacon for Health Law, Now a Lab for Its Retreat

Weather

• NOAA, 2015-16 Winter Outlook
• Anthony Barnston, How Good Have ENSO Forecasts Been Lately?
• Michelle L’Heureux, Were [2014] Model Predictions of El Niño a Big Bust?
• xkcd, Five-Day Forecast

Climate

• Eli Rabett, Things Break

Local

• Adam Vaccaro, 6 people you meet on the MBTA’s late-night service
• Perry Eaton, Somerville brewery Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project is shutting down [Ed.:  Nooooo!!!!]
• Dot Bergin, Housing in Bedford: A Look Back at 1955

Ending on a Positive Note

• Blue Origin rocket launch and landing [Ed.:  Very impressive.]
• Erika Lantz, Kind World #18: Off The List